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Carbonating a full keg vs. partially full

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  • Carbonating a full keg vs. partially full

    Does it take longer to carbonate a full 5 gal Cornelius keg vs. one that is say half full? It seems to me it wouldn't matter, since at any volume level, there is still the same amount of liquid surface area in contact with the CO2 gas. A full keg ofcourse has less headspace, but isn't the pressure always going to remain the same even at different headspace levels?

    My current practice is to fill my kegs up to about an inch below the "gas in" tube. I carbonate and serve at 15psi around 38F, so basically set it and forget it. As a homebrewer I'm familar with the rewards of patience and time, but it still seems to take forever, like about a month, before a keg is completely carbed resulting in very fine bubbles in the glass.

  • #2
    Often homebrewers will set the corny keg on the side, this providing more surface area for the to be absorbed into solution. Frequent agitation also helps get CO2 into solution faster. I've seen a keg carbonated within a matter of days using these methods.

    In the case of the corny on the side, fill level would matter, at exactly half full you would have the most surface area, the more or less full, the less surface area, but who wants to force carbonate a half full keg!

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    • #3
      I usually naturally carb, but I tried force carbing the keg I'm drinking on now. I cooled the keg to serving temperature for a couple of days, cranked the regulator up to 30 psi set the keg on my lap while sitting in a chair and with the co2 still at 30 I shook the keg gently while counting to 100. I still didn't tap the keg right away for various reasons so I don't know how quick it actually carbonated, but when I did tap it the results were good.
      Malt is the soul of beer... and yeast gives it life..
      but the kiss of the hop is the vitality of that life!

      My three favorite beers: The one I just had, the one I'm drinking now and the next one I'll have.

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